sewjapaneseinjanyary – THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS

On a roll here!! This time I’m using the Clean & Natural book and making the puffed sleeve pullover, pattern S. It’s a loose fitting top with boat-neck(ish) that finishes mid hip and has a yummy, puffed sleeve. The fullness in the sleeve is at the hem, rather than the sleeve head. This book has a handy size table and the pattern sizes are S to LL. I graded the LL up two sizes, going by the body measurements and the finished measurements of the top. Remember, I don’t like too baggy…

puff 1.jpg

I toiled the pattern in some remnant cotton sheeting and made the following conclusions. I needed more ease across the bust and length of about 2-3cm. I also wanted the top to finish at the length it was un-hemmed. So I needed an FBA of 3cm and to lengthen the top 3cm. The sleeves are ok, finished at the right place and weren’t tight at the hem. On creating the dart and FBA, I rotated it all out and am left with a no-dart top, just like the original.

Fabric is newly in the stash, after being bought last year at the NEC in March/April. To be fair, I’d sort of allocated it to this top from the beginning, I just never got round to the grading and tracing and toiling last year. The cotton is a woven gingham check, black and white. I thought it would look pretty good with all the linen trousers in my summer wardrobe, and now I’m thinking it might be worn in the winter with a long sleeve layering tee underneath too…

puff 2.jpg

Construction is fairly straightforward, I overlocked everything first, and used ordinary seams. The seam and hem allowances have to be added, by the way. The facings are interfaced with fine sheer fusible. The sleeve is pretty big, and only just fitted on the width of the fabric! You gather the long curved of the oversleeve onto a pleated straight undersleeve. This is what creates and holds the puff. That’s the only time consuming part, gathering and evenly spreading all the gathers!

puff 5.jpg — I like how the back looks here, as if I’ve used a contrast neckband. Maybe that’s the answer.

I had a quick try-on before hemming and decided it was too long! I’m blaming the fabric here, the pattern. It blinded me… So I duly chopped off the 3cm I’d added to the length and turned up a 3cm hem. Then I popped it back on over my head and – whoa! I shouldn’t have done that… I probably didn’t need to remove the whole 3cm.

I also had a problem with the neckline. On the toile I didn’t add the facings and I was happy with where it sat. On this garment, with facings added, it was too high! I don’t like feeling crowded against my neck, and the other issue was all that pattern! I think I could have done with less. So I decided to change the shape of the neckline in the front, put the toile back on and drew a scoop to the depth I wanted and transferred that to the gingham. I added seam allowance and chopped again. Then I realised I didn’t have enough fabric to cut new facings. Not going well, right? Anyway, I cut bias strips and sewed them together and made a bias trim for the neck. I actually like this better than the original facings anyway.

puff 4.jpg — I think there’s just tooo much patterned fabric here for me.

As it’s ever so slightly chilly here in the UK this week, I decided to wear it today with a long sleeve scoop neck tee, and I rather like it like this. I think it would also look good with a rounder neck tee, or even a floppy poloneck. I also think it needs slim fitting pants, looks good with the Birkin Flares, not so pretty with pleated, fuller trousers. It’s the second Japanese pattern that hasn’t turned out quite the way I had imagined in my head. I know I’m not the same shape and size, but I thought I was picking patterns that are similar to those I like in the Burdas, so I was hoping they’d come out the same too. Guess I’ll be sticking to the trouser patterns! 😀

As far as the resolution “take it slower this year” goes, I’m not doing that well… I’ve made three garments and two toiles, mended/fixed/altered a bag full and I’ve got a LIST for the month that really should be quartered. Ah well, if I can’t have fun in January, when can I have it??

So, the next garment in the sewing from Japanese sewing books saga is another pair of Kana’s Standard trousers from the first book. I had intended to use the wide leg pattern from the second book, I graded up two sizes, toiled and fitted (it worked perfectly!) but when it came to laying the pattern on the fabric, I didn’t have enough.

pinstripe 2.jpg — Kana’s Standard trousers B-a

The fabric I wanted to use has been lurking in the stash for a long time. I’d bought it from Fred Winter in Stratford on Avon years ago in the remnant bin. It was 1.8m, pinstripe navy English wool, but with a problem. It was labelled as a second, and I found the flaw straight away, running the full width of the fabric about 15cm in from the one cut end. I figured I could deal with that, depending on what I was making and bought it anyway. Then followed various attempts at fitting various patterns onto the fabric, which, it turned out, had more flaws than the one I’d seen in the shop. There was another flaw running the full width about 30cm from the first one, as well as two holes about 10cm in from the selvedge on the opposite end of the fabric. So nothing fitted, even though I tried. I thought I could get this pattern to fit, heaven knows why, it’s a wide leg pattern, needs length!!

pinstripe 3.jpg

But I was determined, this time the fabric was getting used! So I pulled out the pattern for trousers B-a from the first book and did a little tetris around the flaws. I had to shorten them by 2cm to their original length to fit the legs into the area between the end and the first flaw, and cut really close to the fold, shifting the pants pieces as far from the selvedge as possible to avoid the holes, but I managed it! The pockets fitted into the 30cm between the two flaws, as well as one of the waistband pieces, and the other waistband piece fitted between the first flaw and the end of the fabric. DONE!

pinstripe 4.jpg

I overlocked all the pieces before starting to sew, and then it was easy. The pattern instructions are easy to follow from the diagrams, I’d already added the required 1cm seam allowances & 4cm hems when I traced the pattern. So on Sunday, while hubby was working checking drawings, I was happily making a new pair of trousers. Now, if you remember, the corduroy pair I made last seemed a little too roomy. So to combat that, I decided to increase the seam allowance to 1.5cm on the inside leg seam and from the base of the pocket to the hem on the outside seam. This wool is not as stiff as the cord, but I like the more streamlined look. Makes me wonder why I graded up two sizes! 🙂

pinstripe 5.jpg

But that takes you into the realms of fitting, and what you personally like. The pants are supposed to be baggy, and not necessarily sewn in a stiff fabric like corduroy. The thing is, I don’t want them too baggy on me, so I slim them down. I have the same issue with the tops in these books. If I actually graded up to the right size and proportions, I’d feel like I was wearing a massive tent, I just don’t like that amount of baggy. Even though it looks great on other people, and in the books. I can do baggy, just not tent. That’s why I never use the Burda Plus patterns. They’re just too big, too long and too “cover everything over”.

pinstripe 6.jpg

Anyway, I digress. This is my third version of this pants pattern, I might venture in to the shorter versions and maybe the jumpsuit version in the summer. It might be nice for wearing on the allotment with a Basic Instinct Tee underneath. Even the “dungaree” version might have legs 😉 So – so far, the purchase of the book has been vindicated by the use. Especially if the toile for the gathered sleeve blouse works!!

Tag: sewjapaneseinjanyary

Sewing Japapese in January – Part 3

Sewing Japanese in January – Part 2